Spectacle - Caleb Nichols

Influenced by Japanese art, a quiet sensibility is emerged in the work of Nichols after years of experimenting in the studio. In his quest to "build a better vocabulary," he has mastered such standards as blowing, casting, annealing and fusing. He has even devised one of his own: "smashing." "I blow these forms," he states, "then hit them with a hammer." This leaves him with chunks of glass the become fog, froth, foam, waves, beach stones and boulders in his fused works. This technique allows him to work bigger without requiring assistance, and gives his work its distinctively rough dynamics.